Archive for March 2010
ISO: A Few Good Solos, All Ages and Stages and Sizes (e.g., solos whose firms have grown) For Companion to Solo by Choice
Given the popularity of the solo profiles in Solo by Choice SBC, I’ve decided to compile a companion volume comprised entirely of profiles of lawyers who are currently “solos by choice” (or even by involuntary choice) or who started out that solo but have since grown into a larger practice. I’m looking for solos at…
Read MoreImpact of Blogging on Solo and Small Firm Practitioners
Back in December, I had the amazing privilege of sharing a panel at Norwestern’s Fourth Annual Judicial Symposium on Civil Justice Issues with Eugene Volokh and Mark Herrmann, co-founder and former blogger at Drug and Device Law (as an aside, Herrmann’s last word as a blogger came in this article on both the pros as…
Read MoreWhat Do Solo and Small Firm Lawyers Earn?
Biglaw has its annual and closely watched profits per partnership or PPP extravaganza, while Above the Law devotes an entire category to biglaw associate salaries and cuts. But where can lawyers considering solo or small firm practice get a sense for what solo and small firm lawyers earn? The solo/small firm salary question is tougher…
Read MoreHow Good Solos Suffer When the Greedy Sell Out for $125 A Pop
Back in July, I denounced three Cincinnati, Ohio lawyers who shamelessly served as a front for a foreclosure solutions scam. The lawyers never met with clients (who were going to lose their homes!) or did any work on their behalf; they merely signed their name to canned pleadings prepared by a so-called foreclosure solutions company for…
Read MoreThank You, Justice Scalia for Remembering Who Pays (the Client!) for the Vanity Footnote
If you’re a solo or small firm lawyer who litigates against biglaw, you’re probably familiar with the vanity footnote — that smug, yet entirely superfluous annotation to legislative history, obscure law review article, treatise or string citation included in many large firm briefs. Though intended to corroborate a case cited in the text or flaunt…
Read MoreSale of a Law Practice, Interview With Ed Poll & Lawyers at Midlife
Searching for fodder for blog posts, I came across this advertisement posted by a soon to be 70 year old retiring lawyer who is seeking buyers for his law practice located in Syracuse, in Hamilton County, Kansas. According to the ad there are only two other lawyers in the County, thus allowing for a County-wide…
Read MoreBig Ways for Small Firms to Grow Now
A few weeks back, I posted about several innovative business models that might work for small law firms. Along those lines, yesterday’s online issue of Time Magazine offers eight quick and decidedly twenty-first century tricks to grow a business in a down economy. I’ve focused on two below. Outsource: Outsourcing is a theme that I’ve…
Read MoreTo Win the Hearts and Minds of Consumers, Lawyers Need to Sell, Not Sue
To date, we lawyers haven’t been able to effectively sell the public on the idea that document preparation services like Legal Zoom are a poor substitute for the services of a lawyer. So, being lawyers, we’ve done the next best thing to selling: suing. Last month, a Missouri law firm filed a class action lawsuit against…
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